Towards a Post-Modern Understanding of the Political

While claiming that liberalism is the dominant political theory and practice of modernity, this book provides two alternative post-modern theoretical approaches to the political. Concentrating on Nietzsche's and Foucault's work it offers a novel interpretation of their genealogical projects. It argues that genealogy can be applied to analyze different forms of cultural kitsch vis-à-vis the dominant political institutions of consumer capitalism. The problem with consumer capitalism is not so much that it exploits individuals, but that it fosters cheap human existence saturated with the artefacts of kitsch. Contrasting genealogy with hermeneutic philosophy, it calls for a renewal of hermeneutics within the Thomistic tradition.

Autorentext
ANDRIUS BIELSKIS studied Politics and Philosophy in Lithuania, University of Klaipeda, before moving to Britain in 1999. Since completing postgraduate research at the University of York (MA) and the University of Warwick, he lectures in moral and political philosophy at the University of Warwick and London Metropolitan University.

Inhalt
Preface and Acknowledgements PART 1: INTRODUCTION: MOVING BEYOND LIBERALISM Modernity and Humanism Liberalism and Modernity Utilitarianism: Redemption of Deontological Liberalism? Why Marxism can not be an Alternative to Modernity and Liberalism Introduction to the Argument: Genealogy versus Hermeneutics PART 2: A GENEALOGICAL APPROACH TO THE POLITICAL Nietzsche's Genealogy Foucault on Genealogy and Power Characterising Kitsch The Genealogy of Kitsch Kitsch and the Political: The Case of Consumer Democracy PART 3: A HERMENEUTIC APPROACH TO THE POLITICAL Two Conflicting Accounts of Hermeneutics: Ricoeur versus Gadamer MacIntyre's Contribution to Hermeneutics The Case of Enlightenment: MacIntyre Against Kant Conflicts Between Traditions MacIntyre's Thomism: the Politics of Common Good Hermeneutic Politics: Ekklesia as the Locus of Post-Modern Politics PART 4: HERMENEUTICS BEYONF GENEALOGY Genealogy versus Hermeneutics: Power over Meaning Against Meaning over Power Why Genealogy cannot Form a Basis for Another Tradition Hermeneutics, Metaphysics, and the Political Notes Bibliography Index